My mom told me to always cut stems underwater, but a class in Portland changed my mind.
She swore it kept flowers fresh longer, so I did it for years. The teacher said for woody stems like lilac, a sharp cut in air and then straight into warm water works way better. Has anyone else found that old tip doesn't work for everything?
Your mom was onto something. Cutting underwater stops air from getting into the stem's veins, which is a basic fact for a lot of common flowers. That Portland class gave advice for one specific type of stem, but throwing out the old rule because of lilacs seems short-sighted. The classic method works for most things from the grocery store or garden, so why fix what isn't broken?
Portland class sounds like it was way too specific lol. The old trick works perfectly fine for 90% of the flowers people actually buy. Overcomplicating it just makes people feel like they need a degree just to keep daisies alive.